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Vixen refractors

The Warthog

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MartinB

MartinB

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Sound like different beasts to me WH but then I've no real experience with either.

Interesting read about aperture related resolution here - http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1354

And another one on how critical exact collimation is for an SCT to perform here - http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/collim.html

Conflicting conclusions on comparisons between 4" apos and 8" SCTs (the apos are a lot more expensive however) http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=939

and http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=940.

Martin

PS think both would be nice :lol:

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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Sorry, I meant a 4" Vixen achro compared to a 4" Celestron Achro. Or a 4" Orion. I am out looking for good deals, that I can talk Mrs. W into letting me have. I explained the reason I want a large Dob as well as a medium frac the other day. She seemed to think that was OK. She doesn't much want to look through my scope, though...

There's a Vixen Achro for $350. It'll have to stay unsold for a little while, to make it possible, though.

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John

John

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I used to own a scope called a Bresser Uranus 102mm F9.8 refractor which turned out to be a Vixen SP102M, re-branded. The same scope was also sold by Celestron in the 1980's and early 1990's. These were all made by the Vixen factory in Japan and I found mine an excellent scope - I reckon it was just about as good as an 4inch f10 achromat could get.

The latest incarnations of these scopes are made in China. I have not owned one but they seem to get decent reviews. The big thing that has changed is the price - I paid around £600 (nearly $1000) for mine (pre-owned) in 1990 (that included the super polaris mount, driven on both axis and with the Skysensor - an early GOTO device). The modern versions can be picked up for between one third and half that amount.

More recently I have owned a TAL 100R 4 inch refractor which optically seemed as good as the Bresser Uranus to me. This cost just £250 (around $400) new in 1999. The mount was nowhere near as good as the super polaris though.

Personally I would jump at the chance to own another 1980's Vixen / Bresser / Celestron Japanese made 4 inch refractor on a super polaris mount. I would not bother with the Skysensor computer though.

John,

North Somerset

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lunator

lunator

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WH

I've never owned a vixen refractor but I have always heard good reports about them.

I don't think you can go too far wrong. It may be worth checking the quality of the mount as this will affect how well your scope performs. Nothing worse than have a godd scope on a wobbly tripod with a sticky mount.

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radioactive

radioactive

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I had a vixen 102m acromat it was a very good scope i would go as far as to say the best acromat i ever owned very little chr/ abb on the planets and moon pin sharp stars very crisp and excellent contrast

I concurr with Tom As I was the one who bought it from him and its still my main scope very much the favourite what can I say if you were allowed to marry a scope then set the church bells ringing :lol::(:p

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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Mrs. Warthog is coming to Scotland next week to visit her sister, who has been very ill. Unfortunately, the trip is going to cost me my telescope money for now. Sister seems to be recovering at present, but we were very worried last week. No, I don't get to come on this trip, but we're talking about coming back in spring or early summer.

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